Springing into Summer with 2 (or more) pre-schoolers!

[GoodGrrrlGoneBad]

Here we are ladies- our old thread was still the Xmas one!

Join us here if you have 2 or more pre school kids.

Current hop topic is tantrums, but feel free to chip in about anything and everything!

Hpe your FIL recovers soon girlsayearapart ((hugs))

Thanks all.
Went in to see him this avo. He's just been moved off the icu and is on a ward.
He looks ok pale and tired but talking ok.
Doctors came in when we were there and said 'a large portion of his heart is no longer working'
He'll have to be on major league medecine and won't be able to do much for at least next 6 months.
It has hit DH now. When the doctors started talking he went green and left the room.
TBH it did seem like they were stalling and had something serious to say.

Anyway amgoing for a run then a bath with glass of wine. Seeing fil again tomorrow. x

Hello everyone
sorry i haven't been on for ages.

Sorry to hear about your fil girlsyearapart.

Things are ok here, Dh still temping so that's all good. The boys are both ok. Am hoping DS1 can start at a local creche soon for 1 morning a week, about time since he is almost 3 and has never been in any childcare!
DS2 is doing well, chatting heaps now and sometimes the two of them play nicely, tho most of the time they fight over every toy we have!
Am going to start a thread somewhere else, but just wondered if anyone has any tips to toilet train very stubborn almost 3 year old???? Having real trouble with ds1............

Hi All

Sorry to hear about your FiL, Girlsyearapart.

Kaybee - good to hear that you're OK and that your DH has work. Things are a bit rocky around here in that department, but we're OK so far. (It's just a bit stressful.)

On the toilet training - We just went cold turkey with DD (at about 2.5) and told her that it was no more nappies. And it wasn't. But if that doesn't work after a few days, I think the advice is to give up for a month or two and try again. (She still isn't dry at night though and I have no idea how long that is going to take.)

Me and the DCs all have some nasty flu thing still. It's not so bad that we're stuck in bed, but bad enough that the tantrum count has rocketed.

Added to which, DD has lately started to run across roads (she thinks she's being helpful and getting out of the way of the cars - but of course she doesn't see them all). Then she gets really upset when I tell her off because she was trying to be helpful and she feels aggrieved. (Before someone jumps on my head, I do usually keep a tight hold of her hand or have her hold the buggy, but she's started trying to pull away or go across spontaneously when I'm a little way away and I've no idea she's going to cross.) Aaaargh! (Followers of earlier threads will know that she used to run away as a 1-2 year old.)

Thanks everyone.
Saw Fil twice in hospital. Very breathless and pale but think DH will pick him up tomorrow.
Am a bit pissed off at mils approach to the whole thing though.
He asked her to bring him a sausage rolland some crisps to the hospital and she did!
Should you really be eating that kind of crap on a f ing cardiac ward???
And when it happened he didn't want an ambulance so she didn't call one.
For Gods sake the man was dying. Don't listen to him!!
Have had sil on the phone from Australia askling if she needs to come home. Feel awful for her so far away and so long to get home.
On the plus side potty training is improving no poo in anything except looor potty for nearly a week.
Have my 10k run on Sunday. Am bit nervous never run that far before.
Anyway hope you're all well. x

Evening all
Glad to hear you fil is on the mend.

GYA - sorry to hear about your news -its good they are letting him out so soon and he is getting better

Had a rubbish week as been feeling rough for over two weeks and what I thought were strange insect bites on my back turns out to be shingles! Lol well thats what my hubby told me they were I did try to look in the mirror but couldnt manage to see . Anyway according to the doctor its too late to do anything now and I have nerve damage thats really tender and could last months oh joy! apparently if you take antiviral drugs in the first five days you can greatly reduce the inflammation.

So bear that in mind if anyone else ever has a strange rash on their back go to the docs straight away.

Im hoping for some rest (docs orders but not likely to happen) and sympathy. OOh and a lie in this weekend although my hubby said he could only manage one of the darling children and not both what does he think I do all day/week/year?

Anyway enough ranting off for an early night x

Evening, All

Tracyface - poor you. I wouldn't have a clue what shingles was like so I'd probably have left it too.

GYA - glad to hear your FiL is getting out, but rather about your MIL's attitude too (but then some people leave the stroke ward to have a cigarette - it doesn't seem to warn them off).

Loopy - might try the reward chart (although I've never tried one before and I doubt DD would really have a clue). In the meantime, I decided that reminding her very firmly every morning (or when we're out) that we have to hold hands might be the way to go. She was fine this morning, so I'll see how it goes. (You're right that using a wrist strap would really dent her self-esteem at a big 3 years old... But I might use it if I have to, or at least threaten it.)

Still sick here - me and the DCs have an everlasting flu/cold. (But not shingles, thankfully!)

Hi everyone.
DD2 has had me up at 5am last two days. TIRED.
Wouldn't mind so much if she'd just play or cuddle but she's obviously still tired so cries.
Leaving her in bed just makes her scream and wake up dd1. Argh.
DH has gone on all day golf fest. So am alone with my tiredness for company!
Fil out of hosp now with huge bag of medecines.
Realised yesterday that the photos of dd2s first moments/dd1s first birthday have been erased off my IL's computer as it had a virus.
Then realised dd1 had erased the photos of dd2's first birthday and their joint party. Great. Don't you love technology..
Tracyface- sounds bad my bil had shingles which lasted ages. Hope you get better soon x

Hi girls. Sorry not posted for ages just been consumed with stuff going on with the new business and the girls ever-lasting cold.

GYA really sorry to hear about your FIL, but glad he is ok.

Everyone else, just read through to lots of posts about the effects (and affects) of pre-school and I can totally relate. Freya is a knightmare when she comes home, and has a tantrum for no reason at all. but I have gotten used to it being because she is just plain tired - still tell her off, but try and just get her to calm down and relax.

Have slotted well into the routine and madness that is daily life with nursery - I am in a constant rush now and Izzy is always being chucked in the buggy. Luckily, as long as there is food on hand she is fine. But she doesn;t get the same amount of play she used to, so am trying to get a hold on that, with no really success.

Just watched Strictly and had a lovely evening of wine, SCD and chinese food

And bought a bag yesterday that is big enough to carry the essentials, plus wipes and spare nappy (isn;t it great when you just need a few bits and bin the changing bag?) Have been strutting aroind lots in my new Fly London boots (in you hang around S&B you'll be familier with them already)

Happy saturday night all, will keep up from now on a promise

J&G xx

hi j and g that sounded like perfect saturday night!
except i'd swap scd for x factor..
we've been ok but dd2 has taken to waking up at 5 am ish.
makes for a veeeery long day.
very annoying as she was going til about 630. she is currently on mylap- hence rubbish typing and is exhausted.
have my 10k run at 11 and i'll have been up for 6 hours be the time it starts! argh..

Hi All

Hope your run went well, girlsyearapart. I wouldn't fancy it after a 5am start either. My two are getting up earlier now (because of the nursery routine) and so we get no weekend lie-in. I'm exhausted...

It was DS's 2nd birthday this weekend, and I actually managed a train cake which looked like a train [proud emoticon] (Please note that this isn't idle boasting: I tried to do a train for DD's 2nd birthday and it looked like god knows what... a tractor, perhaps, if you were being charitable So I'm kind of pleased to report that my cake making is on the up (I might need it over the next few years).)

Good to hear from you J&G.
Nursery is tiring Freya out too and she's started picking up some bad habits... (hitting being one, and kicking another - it's enough to make me want to keep her at home). She does love it there though and she has to go out into the big wide world some time...

thanks chaotica- well I managed it!
1hr 25 mins no stops ran whole thing and even sprinted last half k.

Very good on the cake front. I tried a yule log last xmas turned into a mushy pile of ingredients..will have to try every year till I get it right now!

dd2 up again this morning at 4.55.
She is still tired so is irrational, fidgety and crying but won't give in and go back to sleep until 7ish usually which will be just when dd1 gets up.

Any ideas anyone??

GYA well done on the run! Definate high five

The early waking thing strikes us all at some point, I think you just have to leave her to settle herself, even if she cries for 5 mins or so. And then go in and tell her to go back to sleep. Izzy is back in a bed now and has decided to try and get out of her room, hears my electric toothbrush as me and DH are coming to bed, and thinks it is time to get up. So she wonders out of her room, bunny in one hand, spare dummy in the other, all smily and beautiful. It's very heard to send her back to bed, and she is very confused!

I am bottling booking my driving test - so any pushes in that direction from any of are desperately needed though on eastenders today, the phrase 'a little fear is better than alot of regret' struck a cord. (I mean, who knew eastenders was so inspirational?)

All quiet here, just off to bed soon.

Night all

Thanks J and G- have giddily signed up for a 15 k one in December.

My M.S. is in remission at the mo so I'm capitalising on the healthy feeling.

Hate the early morning thing. If I leave her she wakes the whole house up. I do remember dd1 getting up at 530 for ages though then just sleeping longer one day..

Dreading the bed thing. V wierd thought that they could just wander about the house..

Book your test do it do it do it!!!

What's the worst that could happen?

If you fail all you lose is a bit of money.
Don't tell many people just go off and do it.
I only told DH that was it.
Failed my theory twice too..the shame..

Evening all

Well done, girlsyearapart! And 15k is even better. (I used to run that kind of distance a lot when I was a lot younger - but now I have back problems which mean I can't.)

J&G - Book the test ! Seriously, what could actually go wrong? You might have to take it again, but that's really all. And think of the freedom when you've passed. (I really love taking the DCs out further than I would be able to otherwise.)

DP is out for the evening (which he deserves). And the DCs were up early and very tired. I wouldn't be surprised if my neighbours have called social services - I've had an hour and half of screaming tantrums with the odd moment of sanity in between. (I nearly picked DS up and put him in his cot fully clothed - only I couldn't because he had a dirty nappy.) They are now asleep .

GYA wow 15K - and great news that your MS is in remission

Thanks girls for the support and I did just log in and decide to book my test. But I need the buggering ADI number of my instructor! So could not book it anyway (and I was all grrrd uo!) So, will get the ADI number tomorrow and book it tomorrow eve

Had a rush of a day today. Honestly, I will be glad when it is half term and then we can relax into normal laid back daily life.

chaotica hope you are feeling chilled after your (DCs) tantrummy day. I think because our children are all alot older than when we first started o n this thread, it is harder to cope with one of them being awkward. I am like throwing my hands in the air over nothing (whereas in the olden days if the girls were happy for 5 mins I was like YES!)

Night ladies

Thanks for the support people.

Yes it was a major acheivement for me- sprinted last bit with arms over my head acrodss finish line people must ve thought I was a nutter..

Have another 10k to do in November now too.

dd2 slept vvvv badly last night so have had about 5 hours sleep.

Think when they all start school I'll have a year off before I go back just to sleep all day..

GYA sorry to hear another bad night. I bet you are wracking your brains trying to figure it out! I know I used to! A neighbour of mine looks after her grandson and he is a very bad sleeper (he is Izzy's age - 21 months) and he is up and down all night. But, then the mother does let him have a good 4/5 hour nap in the day My neighbour is left with a very grumpy little boy and knows he shouldn't be napping, but as she isn;t the mother, she just has to go with it. I must admit, when Izzy is teething sometimes we don't know she is, and when she is unsettled at night we really can't think why. Until as a last resort we try Calpol and she drifts off to sleep at last.

Well, I have just dropped Freya at nursery and I have 1 hour to tidy and clean the house [Izzy naps from 1300-1430) and then I sit and watch home and away, with some itom of a chocolaty variety.

I had a bit of a with Freya's nursery the other day. The teacher said to me abut Izzy biting Freya (she did, has only done once and it was on this day - Freya had obviously told the teacher) and told me to get a hold of the problem of Izzy biting. I was a little because I am very hot on discipline. Anyway, then she went on to say about 'And she has this massive bump on her head'. At this, I said that I knew nothing about the bump. The teacher then smugly pointed it out. I bent down to ask Freya when she had done it, and she said she had done it at Nursery, had fallen off the see-saw. Well the teacher blushed and blushed and called over the lady who was outside when it happened, who comfirmed it. I was a bit because I did not like what she was insinuating. Then, yesterday when I collected her the same teacher told me Freya had bitten her tongue. I bent down and said to her words to the effect of oooh that's awful did it hurt? And the teacher said 'actually, she said it happened this morning with you'. I asked her and Freya then said she had not bitten her tongue. The teacher then started prompting her 'you remember we were by the samdpit' and 'you told me you had had a nippy tongue' and Freya just looked clueless and said a vague 'yeah'. Freya does not use the term 'nippy tongue' so I am very now with this teacher. Am I being over-sensitive?

Afternoon, All

Just back from an overnight stay in the local hospital with DD who was sent there by the gp yesterday with suspected pneumonia It wasn't, thank god but she was pretty poorly with a chest infection and asthma (which she hasn't had for over a year ). (Not that you'd have known she was much more than under the weather - she was still running around and playing - I just thought she was a bit ill and should take her to be on the safe side.) Now we're home (with a pile of meds) and I'm missing DS who is with our CM. Glad DD is home and I don't have to spend a week eating toast and sleeping on a fold-out chair though.

GYA - can't advise on the sleeping really. Have you taken her to the GP for an ear and chest check? (I used to leave DS for ages thinking it was 'just teeth' and then found out he had ear infections .)

J&G - I am about your nursery teacher too from what you say. I think a load of people have become a lot more vigilant about these things IYKWIM, so maybe that's why she keeps mentioning things. I'd keep a close eye on her just in case and challenge her if she keeps it up - not that that won't be taken as guilt if she's really barking.

(My friend has a ridiculous story of admitting to the midwife taking a recreational drug once before she know she was pg which escalated through social workers and so on until every chance remark she made was turned around on her. Luckily it turned out more than OK in her case, but she does think that they have the nerve to count her as a "success story" when she was never actually a failure in the first place. Looking back, it's all quite funny - they even had the nerve of putting down on the notes that her DH was "anti-education" (he has a phd).)

J&G - I think you're right about the tantrum tolerance too. 5 minutes peace used to be bliss! Now I expect more than 10 on a regular basis. (I guess they were ill too, although I didn't know that yet. [horrible mummy emoticon])

oh dear chaotica your poor dd. Asthma can be awful esp for little ones.

dd2 has excema, hayfever and allergies so i won't be surprised if she develops asthma.

as you can see from my posting time it has not been a good night..

dd2 wouldn't settle last night went to bed about anhour late- dh was in charge i went out to help my sister with the girl guides group she runs.

all quiet after that but i didn't get in until late so went to bed at 11 and she woke at 250.

nothing works have given her milk and changed her but she is currently wriggling about on my lap.Taking her dummy out and saying bye bye to it.

has got blocked nose so may be an ear thing. have given medised as has anti histamine in with it and calpol makes her excema worse..

j and g- glad to see you're a home and away fan too. thought it was just sad little me!

agree v irritating the way the nursery are being but things are just getting like that nowadays..

anyway am not making sense and can't type properly so i'll leave!

GYA - 3am? You poor person. I hope you got more sleep last night. (I remember some unpleasant posting hours from my own past, but it doesn't seem to happen now so maybe that should give you hope...)

Afternoon All Hope everyone is fine.

Thanks chaotica.

Another bad one night before last but last night bit better.

Both dds tired so asleep by 645pm then dd2 woke up at 4.50 gave her her dummy and she slept through till 6.10.

She is much happier having slept properly (as am I).

Am thinking how times have changed that getting up at 6.10 on a Sunday seems like a luxury!

has everyone had a good weekend?